25 zero-budget marketing ideas

You might stock the most unique wedding products of the highest quality at unbeatable prices, but without marketing, you have no buyers. Hiring wedding marketing specialists can be a hefty investment for small businesses, so before you go blowing your budget on full-service agency fees, try your hand at some of these super effective and *free marketing ideas that (mostly) won’t cost you a cent:

1. Network

Often one of the most frightening and yet equally rewarding forms of wedding business marketing is networking. This could be attending wedding expos, women’s business events, small business seminars, Easy Weddings’ free supplier nights, or wedding-themed Meetup groups. If just the thought of talking to strangers makes your heart race, follow this introvert’s guide to powerful networking.

You can also expand your network of fellow suppliers by adding them to your Pro-Network on your Easy Weddings profile. This shows prospective customers how connected you are with other wedding vendors, increasing your credibility and building trust in your brand.

3. Write guest posts

In addition to self-publishing blog posts on your own website, consider writing for other non-competitive wedding businesses and platforms. Publishers are always looking for relevant, entertaining and educational content to share with their audience so look for publications your customers read, understand the types of stories and angles they tend to write about, then submit your story ideas for approval with some high-res pics to sweeten the deal.

Easy Weddings publishes stories on real weddings as well as wedding how to’s, tips and trends. If you have a story you think might be suitable for our readers please send it to content@easyweddings.com.au so we can take a look!

4. Ask for referrals

Don’t be afraid to ask for referrals; they can dramatically reduce your cost per lead while significantly increasing your closing rate for sales. When a recommendation has come from a trusted source, customers are more likely to purchase from the referred source than risk buying from an untried competitors, so setup a referral campaign and invite more customers to recommend your business.

Use email marketing to announce your referral campaign and let past customers, associates, friends and family know about they exciting perks they’ll receive for putting in a good word.

5. Speak at industry events

Don’t underestimate how much you really know about your business and how valuable sharing this information can be. Speaking at industry events and expos helps build your profile and positions you as a leader in your field.

Seek out smaller local community events to hone your public speaking skills first if your delivery is a bit rusty, then when you’re confident on the stage and you’ve got your act down pat, move onto the larger, more targeted wedding events.

6. Ride the wave

This type of guerrilla (non-traditional) marketing involves piggy-backing off what’s hot in the media right now and using it to lure or engage customers. Using Pokemon GO for business is one recent example of riding the wave, which allows businesses to take part in a global phenomena on a local level.

7. Social media brandjacking

This is another type of guerrilla social media marketing whereby businesses jump on a trending hashtag and join the conversation. For example, if Richie Strahan from #TheBachelorAU proposes with a ring similar to one you stock, post a picture of your ring across social media using the official hashtag.

Similarly, if the winning lady wears a dress, shoes, earrings or other accessory that you stock, let viewers know they can purchase it from your store by adding in the official hashtag to maximise exposure.

If you’re a makeup artist, you could create a DIY video tutorial to help your followers get the look of the winning contestant for their big day.

8. Collaborate

Team up with non-competing suppliers on an event or educational series. A florist, venue, planner/stylist, decorator, photographer, videographer and a transport company, for example, could team up and run a workshop for brides on boho styling tips, planning the ultimate Spring wedding, or organising the perfect vintage-themed ceremony… the options are endless!

9. Form strategic partnerships

This could be a financial partnership (where referral commission is paid) or value exchange, whereby your customer receives a gift card for the partnering business when they spend $X in store or online with you. Check out these tips on how to run a successful cross promotion for inspiration.

Sign up to host a fundraising event in-store or at a local cafe, or enter your staff into a charitable fundraiser like a fun run and encourage your customers and social media followers to join your team.

11. Offer something for free

The old “Sign up to receive our newsletter” list building call to action is starting to show its age, so try offering your website visitors something of greater value, like a free consultation, 14-day trial, a product sample or an ebook. People then hand over their email address (including permission to market to them via email) in exchange for your exciting offer, also referred to as a lead magnet.

If you’re not sure what your customers will be most responsive to, trial three different offers for a month each and continue on with the offer that received the most leads in the month it was live.

12. Email marketing

When done well, email marketing is one of the highest converting, most cost-effective forms of marketing. Once your winning offer is pulling in a steady stream of qualified leads, it’s time to start marketing to them and helping them get better acquainted with your brand.

13. Get reviews – crucial in the wedding industry!

Easy Weddings website data shows that suppliers with 11+ reviews in their Storefront get 201% more results than those without. If you’re low on reviews, don’t be afraid to ask! If you’ve had a positive experience with a customer and played a meaningful part in their wedding day celebrations, chances are they’ll be only too happy to provide you with a couple of lines to express their appreciation.

You can then add these to your Easy Weddings profile using the Reviews Widget and share them across your social media and website blog for the rest of the wedding world to see.

14. Show real weddings

Just as Easy Weddings do with our Real Weddings features, you too can showcase your work through your clients’ weddings by posting pictures across your blog and social media. These real-life examples of your craft or products in action will inspire soon-to-be brides and invite enquiries about how you can replicate or modify the work shown in your images to suit their individual needs.

15. Participate in forum discussions

Forums like Whirlpool.net.au and Quora.com are used by couples to ask for advice and tips from industry professionals and those who’ve gone before. The benefit is two-fold; being active in forums like this helps drive traffic back to your website as well as helping to establish yourself as a wedding authority and credible source of information, which in turn leads to more sales.

Now before you start trolling forums, be sure to brush on your forum etiquette, including the golden rule: any obvious promotion of your own products and services which is of no direct relevance to the reader and their question is a big no-no!

17. Get free publicity

The media is always looking for people to interview, so sign up for Sourcebottle; the connecting force between busy journos in need of a quick story and wedding vendors seeking free marketing opportunities.

You’ll be taken through a selection process that ensures you get notified of callouts for wedding experts and other other interview opportunities relevant to your business.

18. Craft a unique selling proposition

In a competitive industry where ‘exceptional customer service’ and ‘superior quality’ are the standard rather than an extra, your business needs a competitive advantage, called a value proposition.

19. Work with a social media influencer

Influencer marketing is about aligning your brand with a person who has a following that consists of your target audience. It’s not always about choosing someone with millions of followers; instead, it may be better to connect with up-and-coming influencers who have only a few thousand (but highly-engaged) followers, who are perfectly poised to need your product or services.

There are many ways to work with influencers that don’t include paying them to post about you or your product. It’s about value-exchange – what do you have (connections, influence, audience size, events or new products to review) that they might value, and vice versa. For tips on profiling, finding and negotiating with your ideal influencer, check out Kissmetrics’ Definitive Guide to Influencer Targeting.

20. Learn how to take good photos with an iPhone

The only industry more visual than the wedding space is photography itself, and if you’re not a professional photographer, creating high-quality images for marketing can be a challenge. This is where getting thrifty with your smartphone camera can come in handy! With smartphone technology advancing so rapidly there are literally thousands of free online tutorials for taking beautiful pictures with your smartphone, so you don’t need to fork out a cent.

All social media profiles should include your website, full contact details where possible and a compelling (or at least complete) description of what your business offers. And if your social media handles are obscure or not instantly recognisable as belonging to your business, change your Facebook username, edit your Twitter handle and update your Instagram profile to something more appropriate an ideally uniform across all platforms.

As an example, check out the Easy Weddings social media accounts for fully optimised (and customised) accounts:

25. Don’t bury your contact details on your website

When was the last time you reaaally looked at your website with fresh eyes? If your contact details aren’t on every page, you’re making it unnecessarily hard for prospects to contact you with the push of a button – just one of the digital sins listed in this 9-point website audit.

*Disclaimer

The reality of marketing is that nothing is 100% free; time is money, but if you’re at a stage in your business where you’ve got more time than money to invest in your own learning and skills, there’s a lot to be gained from these 25 DIY-marketing ideas ranging from free to refreshingly low-cost.

Something not listed you’d like to learn more about? Let us know in the comments and we’ll be sure to include it in an upcoming post!

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